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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY BY DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER
ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 12TH JULY 2016
Question
In the light of ongoing redundancies across the public service and the potential impact of downside pressures on the economy following the UK's decision to leave the European Union, does the Minister remain confident that she can deliver £2 million in savings and a reduction of 10 posts as set out in the Draft Medium Term Financial Plan Addition 2017-19 from reductions in Back to Work services?
Answer
As outlined in the Draft Medium Term Financial Plan, my department will deliver overall staff and administration savings of £3.5m and a reduction in staff numbers of 22.5 FTE by 2019. These savings support the overall aims of the Medium Term Financial Plan to invest in health and education, by increasing productivity and reducing costs.
To support the Council of Ministers' Strategic Priorities, the department is committed to helping more people into employment through Back to Work schemes, including helping more individuals with long term health conditions back into work. We will balance our progress supporting new groups to find employment with our success in reducing mainstream unemployment and the prevailing economic conditions. It is expected that by 2019 the overall expenditure on Back to Work programmes will have reduced by approximately £2m per annum.
The department is continuing to drive improvements in the efficiency of its services through the application of the LEAN methodology, which, in addition to improving customer service, will generate additional capacity within the department. This in turn can be translated into savings, for example by not replacing staff who leave.
These efficiencies are also expected to allow a reduction in the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employees over the period across the department.